We don’t talk much about politics here, I think mostly because we’re apathetic and/or disillusioned. There are precisely two politicians I genuinely think would be appropriate leaders of our fair country. One of them is the highly polarizing Ron Paul. No, I do not think he’s the second coming of Jesus, and I definitely don’t approve of his views on church and state or abortion. But overall, there’s probably not a more sincere, consistent and honest politician that actually has a chance at becoming president.

The other is the largely unknown former governor of New Mexico: Gary Johnson. A young, active, perhaps more progressive version of Ron Paul, Johnson has gained notoriety (and respect) for having climbed Mts. Everest, Elbrus, McKinley and Kilimanjaro, performing impressive 140+ mile triathlons, and a 100 mile run through the Rocky Mountains. He also survived a 50 foot fall from a paragliding accident and treated his pain with medicinal marijuana.

No, he is not a myth, though he might sound too good to be true. He is highly vocal about his disdain for the War on Drugs, specifically the War on Marijuana. In fact, he has been firmly (and loudly) of this opinion as far back as 1999, long before the argument was part of public discourse.

Nowadays, he is trying to gain footing to stage a serious presidential run, likely in 2016. Just today an op-ed piece authored by none other than Johnson was published in Big Government – a strictly right-leaning website. In the article Johnson argues for the end of the War on Drugs, citing the fiscal, social and international benefits that could come with it. And… well, I’ll let you read it for yourself:

The DNA of marijuana has been fully mapped out, thanks to a small team of researchers. The efforts could potentially lead to groundbreaking cancer research, and extremely high-THC concentration marijuana plants. Not a whole lot of scientific breakthroughs are made in the field of cannabis, so this is exciting. Read more at the 420petition.com blog.

And while you’re there, check out their overview of the Mexican Cartel situation. What’s going on in Mexico is really appalling, and we’re more responsible than you might think.

A new survey reports that a majority of Americans support the legalization of marijuana. Angus Reid Public Opinion has found that 55% of Americans support legalization of marijuana. This is higher than both their 2009 and 2010 surveys, in which Americans favored it 53% and 52%, respectively.(more…)

It turns out that not every marijuana-related ballot initiative has to face the disgrace of being voted down this electoral season. As of this Friday Arizona approved a measure which allows medical access to marijuana. For more information on this one I’ll defer to the journalists over at the Examiner: With passage of Prop 203, Arizona becomes 15th medical marijuana state

We would love for you to comment on this development, especially if you live in Arizona.

Everything but the period in the above sentence links to an LA Times article covering the response by various legalization bodies to Prop. 19’s defeat. A heartening read for the disappointed armchair cannabis legalization activist in all of us. Check it out and please leave feedback on this article or the site in general by commenting below!

It seems Mexico is the most drug-progressive country at the moment, and it’s for reasons I don’t think anybody would expect. For those not inclined to read, you are now allowed by law to have 5 grams of marijuana (shitty Mexican brickweed, this is maybe enough for a couple hours of fun), half a gram of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams of methamphetamine and 15 micrograms (barely threshold experience, if that) of LSD. You can thank the drug cartels.

“That marijuana causes very little social harm is reason enough in a free society to legalize it for adults. But as Steve, Paul, and Mason so brilliantly demonstrate in this book, an even more persuasive reason is that by prohibiting marijuana we are steering people toward a substance that far too many people already abuse, namely alcohol.”

On election day, Michigan became the thirteenth state to legalize the physician supervised possession and use of cannabis. According to early returns, more than 60 percent of Michigan voters decided in favor of Proposal 1, which establishes a state-regulated system regarding the use and cultivation of medical marijuana by qualified patients.